Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

By Dan FletcherMonday, Mar. 29, 2010

It's the rare viral phenomenon that achieves any degree of poignancy, but Randy Pausch's last lecture certainly is that exception. Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and delivered a lecture in September 2007 titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." Despite being known as his "Last Lecture," it wasn't Pausch's final speech  he was well enough to make an address at Carnegie Mellon's commencement in May 2008 before succumbing that July. But Pausch's lessons  and upbeat attitude in the face of death  made his September lecture one of the Internet's most seen videos; it's been shared more than 11 million times.